Publica and LiveRamp expand partnership to scale people-based CTV targeting

This partnership addresses the critical challenge of identity fragmentation in the connected TV ecosystem. By embedding people-based identifiers into the ad server and auction tools, Publica provides publishers with the infrastructure to compete for high-value budgets migrating from linear TV. For the broader industry, it reinforces the move toward deterministic identity as a replacement for cookies and IP-based tracking. Success here will depend on publisher adoption rates; watch for whether Publica's current Tier 1 partners, such as Samsung Ads, report significant yield lifts from these enhanced audience segments in the coming quarters.

Publica's partnership with LiveRamp represents one of the more tightly coupled identity integrations available to CTV publishers. The LiveRamp Data Store connection allows publishers on the Publica platform to access prebuilt audience segments from hundreds of data profiles, enabling even publishers without scaled first-party data to build data-driven monetization strategies for their streaming inventory. Publica's audience management documentation describes the LiveRamp integration as a unique package on the market, with co-founder Joel Jewitt noting that the combination of Publica's CTV monetization approach with LiveRamp's identity capabilities creates a differentiated offering for publishers seeking to activate audience segments across connected TV devices.

The business case for this type of identity integration has been reinforced by broader CTV market growth. When the partnership was announced, CTV ad spend was projected to top $10 billion for the year according to eMarketer estimates cited by Publica, with the company positioning privacy-focused identity as essential infrastructure for capturing budgets migrating from linear TV and other digital channels. LiveRamp's Chief Strategy Officer for TV, Jay Prasad, framed the collaboration as a way to unify advertiser demand across linear TV, CTV, digital, and offline identifiers, emphasizing that cross-screen identity is necessary for meaningful measurement as consumers fragment across screens.

From a technical implementation standpoint, Publica's integration with LiveRamp operates at the OpenRTB bid request level, where the LiveRamp identifier is passed as a targeting parameter within ad pods. Publica's audience targeting guide outlines a four-step process for CTV publishers that moves from data segmentation through revenue forecasting to programmatic activation via Deal IDs, allowing publishers to construct audience-based PMPs or Programmatic Guaranteed deals that DSPs can target through SSPs of the publisher's choice. This workflow addresses a persistent gap in CTV: the absence of a common, persistent user identifier in OpenRTB bid requests, which has historically made cross-app frequency management difficult for advertisers.